Thursday, December 25, 2008

Happy Holidays everyone, one the things I never imagined when I started this blog is how many wonderful folks I'd encounter and how positive the whole experience would be. Thanks everybody from me and Brick.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas Eve makes me think of Pajamas, it always has and here are some super cool stylings from 31 years ago. Given the choice at the time, no doubt I would reach for Captain America, which seems weird because I'm Canadian.

That Spock is pretty darn sweet too though.

Happy Holidays peoples! Where ever you are and what ever you do, I hope you're safe and happy.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

$0.88 for Crazy Foam, no wonder most of us threw it out when we were done. I'm positive some of it went into my stocking at least once, most likely a Robin. While most kids wanted to Batman as a kid, I thought the teenaged Dick Grayson was the coolest.

Monday, December 22, 2008

I personally would like to purchase the Moustache and "The Viking Goatee" for holiday visits to the in laws this year. So many colours to choose from too, you get black/brown or brown. Screw you blondie!

Friday, December 19, 2008

I'm not sure any company could represent Christmas in the 70's more to me than Fisher Price, seeing as a lot of their offerings were larger play sets, it was the one given each and every year growing up, under the tree, there would be a Fisher Price toy of some kind.

Honestly I think I have a picture like this for each Christmas in the 70s, so yeah, I'm kind of passionate about Fisher Price.1977 was a fantastic year, not only did they have the Sesame Street License, FP still carried a lot of the classic Little People and Adventure People sets from earlier on. So if you were a kid in the 70s I can't imagine that you didn't have at least one toy from this classic catalog.Check out the 1977 Fisher Price Toy Catalog Here

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Thursday, March 24.1977:CINCINNATI (AP) - First, Kenner sold millions of the Six Million Dollar Man Then, there was a scramble for the Bionic Woman. Now, the nation's second-leading toy manufacturer is,about to unleash its- newest bionic spinoff—the Oscar Goldman doll.

Goldman is the character on both television series who watches over the two superheroes and worries about whether their wires are shorting or their bionic parts need replacing "He's a strong secondary character in both shows," aKenner official said, "and is unusual in getting that prime time exposure twice a week with the success we've had with the Man and the Woman, it was logical for us to bring out an Oscar Goldman figure.''

"The Man"—Steve Austin and "The Woman", the manufacturer's pet name for Jaime Sommers—are proof of the power of television over' the toy industry.

Kenner officials have long acknowledged that shows such as the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman are highly marketable.

The Steve Austin doll sold more than two million copies in 1976, passing the record of its 1975 introductory year. The Jaime Sommers doll sold 1.5 million copies by the end of the past Christmas rush.

The company executive said the Oscar Goldman doll was a hit among Kenner's new 1977 lines at the Toy Fair held last month in New York among Kenner's other new toys is a followup to the successful Stretch Armstrong doll.

The 13-inch doll is a muscular wrestler who can be stretched as far as four feet,twisted and contorted and then returned to his original shape. Kenner has now introduced an adversary called Stretch Monster The doll, scaly and green, will be marketed as a beast to Stretch Armstrong's beauty.

**I'm going to venture a guess that it was a very slow news day and I've never thought of Stretch Armstrong as a "Beauty" before. I will say though, that I got an Oscar Goldman that very Christmas and it was an exceptionally fun toy.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Is it just me or does anyone else get the creep vibe from these pictures? I think it's combination of the dressing alike, the complete lack of personal space, that unflinching stare and the fact that the gentleman looks like every bad guy ever.

Monday, December 15, 2008

I mocked this stuff plenty when it came out (as a seven year old boy would upon seeing an icky girl's toy) but honestly I've always thought this set was really cool. Please don't call me a sissy, I really couldn't handle that right now....

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Card #14 goes out to my pal Scott Adams. Scott and I work on the Megomuseum and this is his other obsession, Child Guidance Sesame Street Finger Puppets. Scott asked me a couple of weeks before this how I felt about doing a card like this and me being a Sesame Street nut, it was an easy sell.

It was hard finding a cool image but I loved this one especially because it has all the "B List" characters and my beloved Roosevelt Franklin.

Friday, December 12, 2008

It's hard to find vintage newspaper toy circulars, most people threw them out five minutes after reading. That's a shame because they are such a neat and attractive way to see pop culture history.

That's why this toy circular from the Zayre stores is one of my favourites, first I was five years old when it came out so I wanted almost all of these toys.

In this little time capsule, we see Star Trek mania sweeping the nation, Sesame Street dominating the pre school section, classic board games like Haunted Mansion and Mego licensing a 40 year old movie.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

With the holidays approaching one might consider purchasing some of this crap to make the booze flow a little better (drunk=perky). Might I suggest the little boy peeing dispener? that's always worth a laugh.

Truth be told, my wife inherited the R Lamp seen here recently from a relative, I'm oddly proud of it.

After the cancellation of the Addams Family, "Thing" really fell on some hard times and was forced to sling cheap bourbon at suburban swingers parties....

Speaking of Booze: Ever seen a peculiar bottle at the liquor store and been a bit curious? Well, that's the point of a new blog called Liquor Pig, whose fearless globe trotting web master "drinks bad liquor so you don't have too" unless he can find some rube to do the drinking for him. It's like a bender without the remorse.

Monday, December 08, 2008

December 12, 1977- "Star Wars" is gone, but don't think it's forgotten. Though the movie closed out a 20-week run in Traverse City last week, sales of spinoff merchandise still are expected to run strong this Christmas gift-buying season.
The "Star Wars" collector can startwith authorized editions of paperback
books, comics, calendars and iron-on transfers and move up to puzzles, spaceship blueprints, records, games and action dolls.

More toys are expected to be on the market by spring, when Academy Awards time rolls around and the movie returns to many communities for repeat engagements. Spring is also the earliest many toy companies can churn out the new "Star Wars" toys. There's a shortage of some items, and several local toy department managers complained of a lack of variety in what's available. 'Star Wars' toys are a number one request, but they're not necessarily a number one seller because the merchandise isn't all there," said John Bouwmeester, manager of the Circus World toy store in Cherryland Mall.

"We get a lot of requests for 'Star Wars' merchandise, but there isn't that
much of it yet," Bouwmeester said. "I think the toy manufacturers didn't expect the movie to do this well and they're way behind in producing the toys to go with it."

One company is so far behind, in fact, that it's already selling toys it hasn't manufactured yet. Kenner is marketing what it calls an "early bird packet" that includes a certificate entitling the purchaser to four "Star Wars figurines. If you mail the certificate now, the company says, you'll get the figurines when they start rolling off the production line sometime between February and April.

The selection may be limited, but one Traverse City toy department is already sold out of "Star Wars" merchandise and doesn't expect to get any more before Christmas.
"We can't keep the toys on the shelf," said Kim Minore of the K mart toy department. "We're sold out, and now that it's this close to Christmas, it's unlikely that we'll be able to restock in time."

"The 'Star Wars' toys are bigger than the bionics right now," Meijer Thrifty Acres toy order writer Mary Reilly said, comparing them to spinoff merchandise generated by television's "Six Million Dollar Man" and "Bionic Woman" series. Also very popular, she said, are "micronauts" — little space figures with moveable and interchangeable parts so youngsters can create their own original creatures.

Kathy Powell of the Tempo toy department said puzzles were selling fast and she had only a few "Star Wars" games left. More items were ordered, she said, and should be on their way to the store. Similarly, Bouwmeester reported that the game "is starting to take off" and he's run out of the puzzles and wonders if be can get-more in stock by Christmas.

Area bookstores, meanwhile, reported "heavy sales" of paper memorabilia associated with the movie. First item out this summer was a paperback novelization of the movie.
Sales of that book are still doing very well, Janet Kroenenthal, manager of
Waldenbooks in Cherryland said, " but they have been dying off a little
recently. Sales were much hotter this summer when the movie first came out
and interest was highest."

Other "Star Wars" paper collectibles include calendars, sketchbooks, blueprints, picture portfolios, iron-on transfer books and a Marvel comics serialization of the movie. Recordings of the movie's sound track are also reported selling well.
"I think the interest has already peaked," said Lois Orth, bookbuyer and assistant manager of Thompson News downtown. "But I expect there'll be a big surge of interest in the movie for the Christmas season."

Who's getting all the "Star Wars" merchandise? "It seems to attract mostly younger boys, from age 10 to the early teens" Orth said. "Very few females seem interested," Kronenthal agreed. "That's natural. It's very much a male movie."

--Oh Yes, Interest in Star Wars has peaked alright, that the most wronger thing ever said....

Click the pic below to check out the full assult Kenner made the following year:

Micronauts are also mentioned in this piece, check out Innerspace Online for massive orgy of Micro goodness.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

It's time to reveal another PlaidStallions trading card, this one comes directly from the brain of my pal Rob Chatlin. Rob has been an tremendous behind the scenes help to PS plus it was a darn good idea so it became card #14.

I don't collect Gabriel Lone Ranger figures but I honestly think it's one of the finest toy lines of the 1970s.